We can learn things from the 17th century

Nathaniel Highmore, an English surgeon who was one of the few doctors to publicly acknowledge that the end result of pelvic massage—the “hysterical paroxysm”—could also be described as an “orgasm,” noted that it was no easy task. He likened it to “that game of boys in which they try to rub their stomachs with one hand and pat their heads with the other.”

I’m going to have to play that game more. For practice. I’m confused though — I’m supposed to give her an orgasm by rubbing my stomach and patting my head, or hers? Or some other combination of the two motions? I suppose that trying all the permutations could be fun.

English physician Thomas Sydenham estimated that hysteria was the most common disease after fever, accounting for a sixth of all human maladies. Among women, he wrote, “there is rarely one who is wholly free from them.”

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Funny how the Ancient and Medieval sources were pretty clear about the condition and treatment. Momma isn’t happy because Daddy isn’t ringing the bell and checking the oil. But when medical handjobs became a moneymaker it got so much more mysterious and complicated

the “douche”—a spray of water directed at the pelvic area—as a treatment that, according to one writer in 1851, seemed to especially “commend itself to the ladies.” Another claimed, in 1909, that there was no better weapon in fighting hysteria and said its effects were “impossible to describe; experienced, it is never forgotten.”

During the repressed Victorian era, hysteria reached its apex. It was joined by chlorosis or “green sickness” (which would probably be called anemia or anorexia today) and neurasthen[s]ia—a new disease believed to brought about by the stress of modern life—to make a triad of women’s ailments known as “hysteroneurasthenic disorders.”

I’ve just started reading about the history of neurasthenia. It’s fascinating.

I’m picturing a steampunk pr0n now, with a jerry-rigged American 4-4-0 at one end, and a prim, petticoated damsel at the other… Teams of uniformed, handlebar mustachioed inspectors general watching in consternation…

For centuries, galloping on horseback, riding in carriages, or vigorous use of a rocking chair had been recommended to treat hysteria. In the Victorian era, these methods entered the home—with a variety of jolting chairs, electric rockers, and saddle machines to choose from.

@13: I think you mean awesome! Who wouldn’t want a mechanical bull ride? Isn’t that what an electric saddle machine is? The bar room would be, at least, 2x cooler. We’ve only got a dartboard right now.

Tacky, I guess, but maybe if it were of a nice black lacquered leather instead of the plain tanned look, it could be a bit more… aesthetically pleasing.

…I actually think more terrifying in that quotation was “vigorous use of a rocking chair” as a cure for being horny. I can just imagine some prim victorian lass in twelve dresses and petticoats and corsets piled on, with a giant hat, sitting intensely in an old rickety chair, rolling it back and forth fiercely with a determined and distant glare.

davidnangle #12 apparently didn’t go to the right university. Check the Engineer’s Song at www3.telus.net/PenguinsRFC/Songs.htm for a detailed description of a steam-operated vibrator and its consequences

Alabama’s supreme court…..”a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose,”
Law enforcement purposes? Not sure i would like to hear the phrase “Spread ’em”. Not without dinner first, at least. Still, i suppose its nicer than a taser

I just feel for the ladies who have such pelvic issues that are actually exacerbated by arousal and orgasm. Not that, uh, that’s been my life for years now. Mostly, I’ve taken the stance that if I’m going to be in bed in pain more or less no matter what I do or don’t do, I might as well earn it, and enjoy being doubled over with some afterglow. At least the last surgery took care of the occasional truly alarming physical manifestations.

Oh, I just figured it out! Like the boys, the doctor is rubbing the woman’s clitoris in circles with one hand, and penetrating her with the other, and needs to maintain a basically steady rate of both for her to get off.

I used to hear women described as “hysterical” fairly frequently, but the term seems to be dying out in popular usage. I don’t think this reflects any reduction in male chauvinism, just the result of an educational system that avoids big words.